Technical Field
The present invention relates to a battery monitoring apparatus that monitors a state of a battery pack configured by a plurality of battery cells.
Related Art
A battery monitoring apparatus in related art includes a monitoring means that monitors a state of a battery pack, and a control means that controls the monitoring means and detects malfunction of the battery pack by acquiring the results of the monitoring performed by the monitoring means, as disclosed in, for example, patent document JP-A-2010-226811.
JP-A-2010-226811 discloses a battery monitoring apparatus that includes means for monitoring voltage conditions of a battery pack. This monitoring means is configured by a plurality of overcharge/overdischarge detection sections and a flying-capacitor type voltage detection section. The overcharge/overdischarge detection sections are provided to respective battery blocks which are groups of battery cells each including a predetermined number of battery cells.
According to JP-A-2010-226811, the means for monitoring voltage conditions of the battery pack has a redundant configuration. Accordingly, in the event that either of the detection sections has a fault, the other of the detection sections can continue monitoring voltage conditions of the battery pack.
Recently, from the standpoint of ensuring functional safety, a battery monitoring apparatus is required to monitor various data (physical quantities) that indicate the state of the battery pack. Also, from the same standpoint, such a battery monitoring apparatus is required to include a monitoring means having a redundant configuration in order to ensure reliability in the results of the monitoring.
However, if the monitoring means for monitoring various data that indicate the state of the battery pack is entirely redundantly configured, the number of components of the monitoring means in the battery monitoring apparatus will be doubled. This raises a problem that the internal configuration of the battery monitoring apparatus will be complicated.